The Commission is considering changes to rules for mutton snapper that would increase the minimum size limits, reduce the recreational bag limit, establish a year-round Atlantic commercial trip limit, reduce the Atlantic commercial trip limit during the spawning season, and remove the spawning season commercial trip limit in Gulf state waters. In the U.S., mutton snapper harvest occurs almost exclusively off the coast of Florida, in both state and federal waters. The purpose of this rule is to address stakeholder concerns and avoid future federal quota overages and closures. In recent years, members of the public have requested proactive management actions to protect mutton snapper from potential overharvest, particularly during the spawning season. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute’s recent assessment of the mutton snapper stock determined it is not overfished or undergoing overfishing, but it is smaller than indicated by previous assessments. Due to the smaller population estimate, the South Atlantic and Gulf federal fishery management councils will be reducing federal quotas for mutton snapper harvest. If future landings are similar to those in recent years, a harvest reduction is necessary to prevent a quota closure of the Atlantic recreational mutton snapper fishery in federal waters. The Atlantic commercial and Gulf commercial and recreational mutton snapper fisheries are not expected to exceed their proposed federal quotas as long as harvest does not expand beyond recent landings. The effect of the proposed rules would be an overall reduction in recreational and commercial harvest through changes in size limits, bag limits, and trip limits. The changes are also expected to prevent federal quota closures. Removal of the spawning season trip limit for the Gulf commercial mutton snapper fishery would create consistency between state and federal regulations, with minimal impacts to the stock or fishery because landings from Gulf state waters make up 4% of all state and federal commercial mutton snapper landings in Florida.